I. Field of the Disclosure
The technology of the disclosure relates generally to the SOUNDWIRE specification and particularly to handling relatively long communication buses therewith.
II. Background
Mobile terminals have become increasingly common in modern society. These devices have evolved from large, clunky, relatively simple telephonic devices to small, full range, multimedia devices with vastly improved processing power. The early mobile terminals generally provided poor sound quality and little, if any, visual image capacity. As the processing power for these mobile terminals has increased and the range of multimedia options has increased, the quality of the possible audio experience has likewise increased. In particular, contemporaneous mobile terminals may include multiple speakers, multiple microphones and, optionally, may communicate with remote audio devices such as headsets.
The MIPI® Alliance introduced the Serial Low Power Inter-chip Media Bus (SLIMbus®) protocol to help standardize communication between audio elements of a mobile terminal. While effective at providing communication between the audio elements of the mobile terminal, SLIMbus has not seen widespread acceptance by the industry. Accordingly, the MIPI Alliance has introduced the SOUNDWIRE specification to replace the SLIMbus protocol.
The SOUNDWIRE specification provides for a two-wire communication bus that may not exceed fifty centimeters (50 cm) in length. While such distances are readily satisfied for the audio elements within the mobile terminal, such distances may be too short for some regularly used ancillary devices such as a headset. Accordingly, there remains a need for improvements to the SOUNDWIRE specification to allow distances greater than 50 cm.